Current Board Meeting Minutes

DULLES SHRM BOARD MEETING MINUTES
ARTEL, Inc.
February 12, 2007

Board Members Present:
Teresa Buchholz, Vice President, Sponsors
Ben Kane, SHRM Foundation Representative
Maggie Chan, Past-President
Sarah Cower, President Elect
Andy Drescher, Assistant Registration Coordinator
Joseph Gregory, Assistant Vice President, Membership
Denise Henderson, Communications Director
Cindy Loison, Director, Discussion Group
Amy Lourenco, Registration Coordinator
Jamey McNamara, Secretary
Lynn Padgett, Vice President, Membership
Craig Petry, Legislative Liaison
Mary Saily, President
Tina Strasheim, Treasurer
Chas Sumser, Certification Representative

Board Members Absent:
Judy Carter, Vice President, Programs
Evelyn Kaiser, Diversity/Workforce Education Director
Nidhi Kanungo, Student Chapter Liaison & Scholarship Coordinator
 
Agenda:
The meeting was called to order at 6:08 p.m. 

Treasurer:
Tina Strasheim presented the Treasurer's report dated February 12, 2007.  Our checkbook balance as of February 12th is $6,269.26. In addition, we have $31,827.11 in a separate cash management account.

We then discussed the budget for 2007.  Tina Strasheim adjusted the budget based on input received from the Board at its January 8th meeting.  Amy Lourenco noted that the cost of renting the LCD projector at the Sheraton is more than at the Marriott.  The charge includes use of the screen, table, and set up.

Secretary:
The January 8, 2007, Board Meeting minutes were approved with one correction, i.e., the third bullet listed under Amy Lourenco goals for 2007 is not a goal, per se, but rather a strategy for accomplishing her second goal.

Membership:
There are 136 paid Chapter members as of February 12th.  At the January Chapter Meeting there were 97 documented attendees (Amy Lourenco reports that 104 actually attended).  52 attendees were paid members and the remainder were non-members.  Amy Lourenco inquired if anyone was following up with those whose credit cards did not work.  Tina Strasheim reported that she had been in contact with them, and that the two individuals did not wish to become members.

In April, Joseph Gregory will report on 2007 membership metrics versus 2006 numbers.

Certification:
Chas Sumser outlined his goals for 2007:

• Support the certification/recertification efforts of Dulles SHRM Chapter members
• Coordinate a successful certification study group activity
• Provide information to members about certification opportunities
• Participate in the NOVA/Dulles Peer Mentoring program as a program committee member
• Increase Chapter recertification rate

Chas Sumser went over the results of the survey of the 2006 certification study group.  He also reported that he plans to get together with Eileen Taylor, instructor for the certification study group, to discuss the pass rate from the 2006 tests.  (The pass rate for PHR was 9/15 (60%) and for SPHR was 5/7 (71%).)

Chas Sumser asked the Board for its thoughts on whether a participant in last year’s study group who had to withdraw for personal reasons could re-enroll this year at no cost.  The group discussed how this would impact the finance of this year’s class (if the instructor is paid on a per student basis).  Amy Lourenco felt that if this would be a revenue-neutral decision, and the person would be responsible for her own course materials, then it might be feasible.  But if there were a cost associated with the decision, we would need to know the amount.  Joseph Gregory added that some organizations allow participants in test preparation courses to re-take the course if they do not pass the exam.  The Board did not reach a final decision on Chas Sumser’s request and requested additional information from Chas Sumser.

SHRM Foundation:
Ben Kane outlined his goals for 2007:

• Present $1,500 in donations to the SHRM Foundation by the August Chapter Meeting
• Collect $500 from the 50/50 raffle by the end of the year
• Continue to receive donations from sponsors for door prizes, give aways, etc.
• Search for donations from external sources
• Award two $1,000 scholarships in collaboration with Student Liaison

Denise Henderson asked Ben Kane about the practice for drawing business cards for door prizes at Chapter Meetings, and specifically, whether the cards of those who win prizes are put back in the bowl for subsequent prize drawings.  Ben Kane said that normally the cards are not put back in, but at the January meeting he put all of the cards back in for the grand prize drawing.  We discussed and agreed that in the future, if there is a significant prize to be given away, the drawing for it should be done first so that all have a chance to win, then the winners of subsequent prizes will not have their cards put back in the bowl.

Mary Saily noted that Ben Kane’s goals include making a donation to the SHRM Foundation at the August meeting.  Dulles SHRM made its donation at the August 2006 meeting because a representative of SHRM National was in attendance.  We agreed that this year we will make the donation in December since it closer to the end of the year.

Sponsors:
Teresa Buchholz reported that she has received commitments totaling $2,600 from monthly sponsors, and $1,200 from our annual sponsor.  October and November are the only months remaining that are in need of sponsors.
We discussed advertisements on the Dulles SHRM website and the duration of different types of  ads.  Specifically, classified ads on the website should be up for the whole year.  Monthly sponsors’ ads should be up for one month (from the day after the prior month’s event to the day of the current month’s meeting).

Teresa Buchholz’s goals are to handle the high volume of calls she receives from potential sponsors; fill the remaining two months for this year and three for next year; and then sell ads.

Joseph Gregory inquired whether we could bill sponsors once they commit to a specific month’s program.  The rule has been that we require payment two weeks prior to the event date, but the payments sometimes are not received until closer to the event date.  Teresa Buchholz said that she would prefer not to go back to sponsors who have already committed to ask them for their payments now, but she will encourage them to pay now and let them know that we need their payments no later than one month prior to the event. 

Legislative Affairs:
Craig Petry reported that HR Voice received 1,200 responses from Virginia in 2006.  Maggie suggested that we could possibly use some of the Community Speaker time during Chapter Meetings to explain to people how easy it is to send a message to HR Voice.  Amy Lourenco added that a PowerPoint presentation containing web screen shots could be used to demonstrate it.
Craig Petry reported on the Virginia State Council meeting that took place on January 26th.  There is an initiative on workforce readiness that will culminate on April 26th.  The initiative is designed to create more coordination between businesses and HR in companies to discuss what high schools need to do to get students ready fro the workforce.  SHRM would like us to contact all of the schools in our area, but the timing and coordination of this effort are unclear.   

The next two State Council meetings will be held on April 26th and July 27th.  The following meeting will be held in conjunction with the Virginia State Conference, which will be held October 3-5.  Mary Saily sought a volunteer to attend the April 26th meeting.

Communications:
Denise Henderson reported that Jay is going to need to take the database down to manipulate the data, but they want to avoid doing it during the registration period for the February 21st Chapter Meeting.  The plan is to do the project after Monday, February 19th, when registration officially closes.
The next newsletter deadline is February 15th.  The benefits survey deadline is in two weeks.

Feedback on Sheraton:
We discussed various aspects of the January Chapter Meeting, our first at the Sheraton.  Items discussed include food, location of handicapped parking, lack of lighting around rear entrance, the size of the networking room, and the location of the registration table.  There were 104 attendees (9 walk ins and 8 no shows) – an extremely large turnout for a Dulles SHRM event – and most space-related issues at the Sheraton were attributable to that fact.  Amy Lourenco reported that the hotel staff is very accommodating and responsive and we have access to different space depending on our needs.

2007 Member Survey:
HumanR will again conduct and analyze the survey responses at no charge to Dulles SHRM.   Mary Saily sought the Board’s immediate input on when would be the best time to put out the survey so that she can make an announcement at the Chapter Meeting on February 21st.  The survey will include new members as well as individuals who were members at the end of last year.

Miscellaneous:

• Human Resources Leadership Awards:  In the past, the Chapter has decided not to sponsor the awards event ($1,000) and there was general agreement that we would not do so in 2007.   We will promote and advertise the awards ceremony, as we have done in the past, but will not send a representative to the planning meetings. 
• SHRM DVDs:  We discussed whether we should play the available HR DVDs available from SHRM at Chapter Meetings.  We generally agreed that this would not encourage the type of social interaction we seek to promote at these meetings. 
• CAP:  Dulles SHRM currently has 128 points (and 131 points if SHRM accepts all of the points we have submitted).
• Wine Party:  Mary Saily is hosting a wine party for the Board and their guests at her home in Reston on Saturday, March 10th.  She will provide the wine and Board members are asked to bring hors d’oeuvres to share wit the group. 

The meeting was adjourned at 7:57 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Jamey McNamara
Secretary